The New Zealand Human Rights Commission commemorated International Human Rights Day by releasing a 3-part video series of the Chief Commissioner, Paul Hunt, discussing human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The New Zealand Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade also hosted a panel on the day to highlight the work New Zealand is doing to promote and protect human rights domestically as well as internationally. The Chef Commissioner and Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner were both invited panellists.
Many civil society organisations across NZ working in the human rights space also marked the occasion through social media posts, events and panels which we attend and support. For example, the United Nations Association of New Zealand are hosted a seminar at Parliament to mark Human Rights Day. The theme was “the refugee crisis as a human rights crisis”. The seminar consisted of a panel of experts in the refugee sector in New Zealand and included a member of parliament who is a former refugee himself.